Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine · How it works →
The verdict comes from seven water factors and hard safety gates — not ten tabs. Go or stay.
How we score the water
Our own model
Our own forecast engine — not a third-party widget. It weighs these water factors into one go-or-stay verdict for this coast; the 0–10 dial is that verdict, read out as a number.
01
Swell & wave memory
Height, period and direction of the swell, plus the wake of recent storms — an old storm still stirs the water, and the engine remembers.
02
Wind & gusts
Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
03
Tide phase
Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
04
Water temperature
Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
05
Currents & outflow
Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
06
Rain runoff & air clarity
Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
07
Coast shape & exposure
How the coast faces the swell — a sheltered cove keeps the water clean; an exposed, head-on point takes a penalty.
Safety gates
Thunderstorm forecast — an instant red, no exceptions.
An official warning (MeteoAlarm / IPMA) — yellow, or red for the higher ranks.
Missing input data — a would-be green is capped to yellow rather than overstated.
Strong disagreement between forecast models — a green day is pulled back to yellow.
Night hours — where night spearfishing is banned by law the window is forced red; where it is legal (Australia outside NSW, New Zealand, South Africa) it is capped at yellow, never green.
It all folds into a single 0–10 score and one verdict: go or stay.
A forecast, not a guarantee — the sea has the last word.
Where to get in, where to hunt
Entry points with coordinates
Seabed relief — promising ground
This verdict — in your pocket. Open the app for the week's window.
point your camera
0 m
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
no dataupdated 16:47
Puerto de la Cruz — solo, off the rocks
BORDERLINE
caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · wave 1.3 m (occasionally up to ~2.6 m)
wave 1.3 m head-onwind 17, gusts 25 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~2 m
today, best window 18:00–21:00
fish · Visibility 2 m · Water 25.3°C
confidence medium · verdict for the selected day
Whole week — tap a day. is driving swell right now.
›
Solo risk: carry a float · tell someone your plan and exit time · doubt = don't go. A model-based planner; the call is made on site.
Selected day
Windows, hours and the day's trends.
The day is picked above, in the hero. Here are that day's windows, the hour-by-hour map and the trends. Tap a window to break down the conditions.
Wednesday · today2026-09-09
07:47–20:17 · new moon
▲ 00:00▼ 06:00▲ 13:00▼ 19:00mid-range tides · 2.1 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide0.29 m
Wave1.26 m
Wind12 km/h
Water25 °C
fish activity: moonrise 05:56 · moderate · moon overhead 12:40 · high · moonset 19:22 · moderate · moon underfoot 00:00 · high
Conditions window15:00–18:00
don't go fish
Hs 1.34 m · roughperiod 5.6 s head-onwind 22→27surge 6.6viz 1 m
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.
point your camera
−10 m
The water column
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
What it is
A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.
spearo.app folds wind, wave, swell period, visibility, tides, water temperature and risk into a single verdict — go to the spot or not. It computes 7 days ahead from open marine models (Open-Meteo, IPMA), with no sign-up and no accounts. Built for solo spearfishing off the rocks, where any mistake costs dearly.
Now live: 1391 spots across 205 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
Relief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.
On the rock
The forecast is the plan. The call is on the rock.
The models set the window. Whether you go in is read only at the water: count the sets, watch the surge on the entry. If in doubt, you don't get in.
Entry points
No verified entry points here
In the Canaries spearfishing is lawful ONLY INSIDE the official zonas acotadas and only from sunrise to sunset (Orden de 29.10.2007; Decreto 182/2004 art. 35.1); outside them it is not, and silence is not permission. There is no verified acotada in front of Puerto de la Cruz: the nearest one we have documented on Tenerife's north coast is T-1 (Santo Domingo – Las Aguas), and only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays; its eastern end is the beach of Las Aguas, about 9 km west of the town. So we publish no entry here: you may look at this coast, but the gun stays out of the water. Beyond the law, this face of the island takes Atlantic groundswell most of the year, and what hurts is the break over the ledge, not the depth. Check the Consejería's list of acotadas.
One morning glance — and you know.
point your camera
≈
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Minimum sizes by caladero (in the table below). Season depends on the species and place.
In season now
European seabass
Dicentrarchus labrax · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
gilthead seabream
Sparus aurata · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
white seabream
Diplodus sargus · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
two-banded seabream
Diplodus vulgaris · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
salema / saupe
Sarpa salpa · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
⚠️ Do NOT eat the head/guts (ichthyosarcotoxism).
black seabream
Spondyliosoma cantharus · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
red porgy
Pagrus pagrus · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
striped red mullet
Mullus surmuletus · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
dusky grouper
Epinephelus marginatus · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
Sin prohibición estatal de captura (NO está en el Catálogo Español, RD 139/2011).
common octopus
Octopus vulgaris · Canaries · 1 kg
Talla por PESO: mín. 1 kg (RD 560/1995, todos los anexos). No coger hembras con huevos.
Mediterranean parrotfish
Sparisoma cretense · Canaries · RD 560/1995 Anexo III
Law
✓Spearfishing licence mandatory; the AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY issues it (not the State) and it is valid in the exterior waters of the whole coast. Free-diving only — scuba is banned (, art. 3).
✓Spearfishing catch may not be sold or traded — it is non-commercial fishing ().
✓Night prohibited: spearfishing only in daylight (sunset to sunrise not allowed) — , art. 16.d.
✓Marker buoy MANDATORY: mark your position with a clearly visible buoy and stay within 25 m of it — , art. 15.
✓Never keep the speargun loaded out of the water — , art. 16.a.
✓Keep at least 300 m from professional fishing vessels that are working — , art. 12.b.
✓The state act (, art. 16) bans, for spearfishing: a loaded gun out of the water; explosive/electric points and lamps (hand torches excepted); underwater scooters; night — from sunset to sunrise. Plus art. 12 b), d), e): 300 m from professional fishing vessels, light as an attractant, poisons/explosives. A ban in a PARTICULAR reserve, port or beach comes from that place's OWN instrument (the reserve's order, the autonomous community's rules, the port authority) — see the no-take zones on the map and your community's rules.
✓Min. sizes by ( + + EU 2019/1241): sea bass 42 cm (rec.) / 36 cm / 25 cm Mediterranean / 22 cm Canaries; gilthead bream 20 cm and white seabream 23 cm in the Mediterranean (EU 2019/1241); grouper 45 cm. See your zone's species card.
✓Only species in Annex I of may be taken; keeping, landing or transporting undersized specimens is prohibited.
✓The licence needs a medical fitness certificate for free-diving and civil-liability insurance (or a federative licence, which includes it). Mandatory in the Basque Country/Murcia/Asturias/Galicia; the federative licence covers it in Galicia/Balearics/Cantabria; the Canaries and Andalusia do NOT require it for the individual licence (a responsible health declaration). Minimum age generally 16 (14 in Andalusia).
Safety protocol
Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs, the wash can run 50 m past the foam line. A lull >10 min with period >12 s = a big set «overdue», do NOT enter; enter right after a full set passes and re-check at minute 30.
Exit FIRST: find your exit AND a backup before entering. On a rocky/boulder shore a 0.5 m rise in swell can make the exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer.
Headland rip: prominent points often have a permanent topographic rip regardless of the model — locate it, enter/exit on the windward side, never swim against it.
Cold: wetsuit per the SST chip; the first shiver = a metabolic surge and a drop in breath-hold → get out at the first steady shiver. Cap the session at 45–60 min below 15 °C.
Solo discipline: buoy up; tell someone the spot and exit time; conservative breath-hold (never push it in cold/murky/surfy water); visibility <3 m — don't enter.
Afternoon wind: on many coasts the wind builds from midday — plan to be out of the water by midday; the chop builds — get out.
UV 11:00–15:00 (UVI ≥6): sunscreen and cover up on the surface interval.
Solo is a fundamental risk (hypoxic blackout with no buddy). Any doubt = No-go.
FAQ — spearfishing in Puerto de la Cruz
Where can I spearfish in Puerto de la Cruz?
Spearfishing in Puerto de la Cruz: sea forecast and shore-entry spots. Check today's forecast above and pick a calm-sea day, always with a marker buoy.
When is the best season in Puerto de la Cruz?
Year-round — 20 m+ visibility over volcanic relief. Ocean swell hits the islands' north faces, so pick the sheltered (south/west) side for the day. The Canaries have their own species rules.
How cold is the water in Puerto de la Cruz?
Warm for the Atlantic and steady all year: ~18–24 °C. A 3 mm suit in summer, 5 mm in winter. Very clear water over volcanic rock.
Is Puerto de la Cruz good for a beginner?
Intermediate: very clear water but volcanic drop-offs, ocean swell on the exposed faces and rock entries. Pick the sheltered side, and apnea comfort helps.
Do I need a licence in Puerto de la Cruz?
Yes — in Puerto de la Cruz you need a recreational sea-fishing licence (issued by the autonomous community); breath-hold only (no scuba), with a marker buoy and no night diving. See the guide.
✓There is no fixed national catch cap (, art. 5 delegates it to the communities); the standard is 5 kg/person/day, with 1 specimen allowed not to count (Canaries — Decreto 182/2004, art. 38.3; Murcia; Galicia; Basque Country). Protected species have per-piece quotas.
✓Only a harpoon is allowed — hand-held or mechanically propelled, with one or several points (, art. 14.1). Carrying spearfishing gear and underwater breathing equipment aboard AT THE SAME TIME is prohibited (art. 14.2) — an offence in itself, even if you dived on a breath hold.
✓Spain is not one jurisdiction. The licence is issued by a coastal autonomous community, and you must comply with the rules of the administration on whose littoral you are in the water: «debiendo cumplir la normativa establecida por la administración en cuyo litoral se realice la actividad» (, art. 13). Interior waters — inside the straight baselines: bays, coves, rías, the whole coastal strip — are the community's competence; exterior waters are the State's. So the age, the days of the week, the distances and the are found in your community's act, not in the state one.
✓🔴 The Canary Islands run a PERMISSIVE regime, not a prohibitive one. In the archipelago's interior waters spearfishing is allowed ONLY INSIDE the zonas acotadas listed in the act's annex: «las zonas acotadas dentro de las cuales se permite la práctica de la pesca marítima de recreo submarina, son las que figuran en el anexo» (Orden 29.10.2007). For the archipelago's exterior waters the same is set by an act of its own (Orden 22.02.1988). So the question is not «is there a closed zone here» but «is this point inside an acotada»: outside one, spearfishing is NOT permitted, even if the map shows no closures at all.
✓Canary Islands (special regime, Decreto 182/2004): the «2nd-class» licence enables recreational spearfishing (free-diving only, scuba banned), valid 3 years; applied for at the Gobierno de Canarias (procedure 1186).
✓Canaries (Decreto 182/2004): the speargun may not be used within 150 m of bathers, beaches, busy areas or surface fishers (art. 36.j); kept loaded/armed out of the water (art. 41.a); any protected, closed-season or undersized catch is returned to the sea (art. 38.1). State distance 300 m to professional fishing (, art. 12.b).
•Bans (RMIP): La Restinga–Mar de las Calmas (El Hierro), La Palma island, La Graciosa and the northern Lanzarote islets — spearfishing banned (see zones).
✓Canaries (Decreto 182/2004): spearfishing from sunrise to sunset (art. 35.1), with a speargun, a knife and a (art. 31.1). The recreational daily cap is 5 kg per person, in several pieces or in a single heavier one, and one piece may be left out of the count (art. 38.3). The catch is for own consumption or for charity only, and any commercial use is prohibited (art. 38.2). Carrying catch BETWEEN ISLANDS is capped at 10 kg — in several legal-sized pieces, or in one that may exceed that weight (art. 38.5). This regulation sets NO closed seasons of its own: under art. 172.2 the minimum sizes and the épocas de are «las establecidas en la normativa comunitaria, nacional o autonómica», so the Canarian closed-season calendar has to be looked for in another act, not in this one.
⛔ Seahorses (Hippocampus) — protected (RPE).
Rules change and are REGIONAL. Before heading out, check with the competent autonomous community (licence) and the min-size table in force.
Portugal
Spain